Saturday, October 31, 2015

It is that time of year again when we celebrate all things spooky. We here at Jigsaw's Lair tend to celebrate spooky things all year long so this is just another day to us! Halloween is just an excuse to get out the DVD's and choose the best ones for the occasion. I have probably told you all of my Halloween favourites before, but I am going to choose a few movies for Halloween that you might enjoy. Maybe I will choose some offbeat ones instead of the usual Halloween ones.

For some lesser known movies- Motel Hell is a fun one. Eaten Alive is another. Oh, there are so many choices....If you want traditional Halloween fare then of course choose any movie with Michael Myers in it!Maybe Trick r Treat or The Amityville Horror(1979) or Creepshow. I think that you should find something there that you like. At the end of the day, it is fun to watch any movie on Halloween whether it be a slasher or a ghost movie. Just sit back and enjoy being scared for a while! I know I will....Have a very Happy Halloween and enjoy it, whatever you are doing!

Sunday, October 25, 2015

So, here comes the new season of The Walking Dead! We left off the last time with Rick taking over in Alexandria. This season begins with Rick and some others looking into a quarry where tons of walkers have come together. He is trying to come up with a plan to destroy them and keep them away from Alexandria.There is a flashback to what happened before this. Deanna is not too happy with Father Gabriel for making her believe that Rick and his group were troublemakers and should not be trusted. Some of the others are burying Deanna's husband and Pete, the guy that Rick killed in the last season. Rick thinks that Pete does not belong inside the walls and he tells them to bury him outside with Deanna's agreement. Pete's son, Ron is upset by this and he follows them to see where his dad will be laid to rest.

Ron draws a group of walkers on himself and Rick saves him. He discovers the quarry and realises that the walkers were trapped in there and couldn't go to Alexandria, but now, the place is crumbling and they are able to escape. Rick comes up with a plan to lure them away from Alexandria to somewhere else where they can be destroyed. Some of the people in the town are not too happy about this and some of them plan to get rid of Rick. They get caught by Rick who then gets them to help him for everyone's sake. So, now we are back to real time and Daryl and a few others are luring the herd away the walkers and the plan seems to be working.

They all watch the walkers to make sure that there are no stragglers. Unfortunately, one of the group gets bitten by a walker and screams,attracting more. Rick has to kill him to shut him up. Suddenly, they hear a horn blaring and it seems to be coming from the direction of Alexandria. Is there trouble afoot? The walkers start heading back towards there and Rick and company head back too, wondering what is going on.This was a decent premiere. I am interested to see what is going to happen next and will the group stay on in Alexandria or will they get going again...I know that I will be watching to find out!

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is a true crime novel written by Don Davis. It was published in 1991 just after Dahmer was captured. If you don't know, Jeffrey Dahmer was a serial killer, cannibal and necrophiliac He stalked the streets of Milwaukee for years and he slaughter seventeen men, most of them young and black.This book takes you from his childhood until his capture by police in 1991.

The book begins with the tragic story of 14 year old Konerak Sinthasomphone who was picked up by Dahmer. He drugged the boy, but he woke up and ran away out of Dahmer's apartment. He ran into two women who called the cops. The cops came and Dahmer managed to convince them that it was just a tiff between two gay men. Konerak had handcuffs attached to him and the cops went into Dahmer's apartment, but decided that it was harmless and left the young boy to his fate. Dahmer murdered Konerak just after the cops left. This is the beginning of the novel and you can only imagine what the young man endured after the cops had left him alone with Dahmer.Dahmer grew up in Wisconsin with his parents, Joyce and Lionel Dahmer. He was an unusual young man and he liked to kill animals(a hallmark of most serial murderers). He liked the cut them open and see what their insides were like.He killed cats and dogs and took them up to his room to examine their dead bodies. His parents divorced and his mother left the family home. Jeffrey found himself living with his dad and his new stepmother. He became an alcoholic at a young age and before his parents split up, they tried to get him help.Dahmer was alone in the family home when he picked up his first victim, a hitchhiker named Steven Hicks. He invited him to his house where he killed him and dismembered his body. He dissolved the body in acid and crushed the bones and scattered them around the yard of his home. This began his killing career which would last until 1991.Dahmer was caught for indecent exposure in front of children and he was sentenced to probation. He had to see a probation officer and talk about his life etc. He got a job in a chocolate factory and then he got his own apartment. He lured and killed many more young men there and he dismembered and disposed of them. Well, most of them. He kept parts of his victims in his apartment. He kept the skulls of some of his victims and painted them and kept them as ornaments. He took pictures of his victims before and after death.His neighbours began to notice a horrible odour from his apartment for all of the dead body parts. Dahmer became more out of control as time went on. His last intended victim was a young man called Tracy Edwards. He was lured to Dahmer's flat and Dahmer began his murder ritual. He was going to take nude photos of Edwards and then kill him but Edwards played for time and punched Dahmer in the face before running out of the flat. He flagged down two cops and told them what had happened. They went up to Dahmer's flat and what they found there was enough to arrest Dahmer.

Dahmer was convicted of 16 murders and he was sentences to 16 life sentences so he was never getting out of prison. He was murdered in prison by an inmate in 1994. The book doesn't have this included as it was written before that happened. This book was interesting in parts and not so interesting in others. The author tends to ramble on about topics that were irrelevant but I still enjoyed it. If you like true crime novels, then you will enjoy this one!

Thursday, October 8, 2015

George Tatum(Stafford) is a mental patient in a facility in New York. He has been experiencing terrible nightmares about a murder. His doctors are looking at him, trying to judge if he will be able to go back to society. They decide that he is and he is released. He is supposed to meet with his doctor in his office to make sure that he is okay. He is given drugs to keep him on an even keel.George has an ex-wife, Susan(Smith) and three children. They begin to receive calls from George. They think that it is just someone playing a prank.

Little do they know that George is on his way from New York to Florida to get back to his wife and kids. He kills people along the way as he cannot get the image of a murder that he committed as a child out of his head. He killed his father and the father's mistress when he found them in bed together. This is why he has gone mad and keeps having to kill. He is waiting until he gets home to Florida and then he wants to kill his family. His son, C.J. seems like a chip off the old block as her is very disruptive and plays weird jokes. His mother is at her wits end with him. While the mother has gone out, C.J. is at home with his siblings. George breaks in with a mask on and an pick.

He chases after the children, trying to kill them. C.J. is aware of where his mother keeps her guns and he gets them and shoots George many times, but he keeps coming. He eventually shoots him and George gets hit and falls down the stairs. He dies as he remembers the horrific crime that he committed as a boy. C.J. and the others get out of the house and the police are called. Susan returns and when she sees her ex-husband, she is horrified. As C.J. is taken away in the police car, he winks. Is he the same as his killer dad??

This was an entertaining movie. It was gory in parts, but nothing too scary by today's standards. It is cheaply made, but effective. The end sequence is the best where George comes after the kids and I didn't see it coming when C.J. gunned down his father. That was an interesting turn of events.This movie was labelled as a 'video nasty' when it was released, but it isn't anything too nasty at all. How times have changed. Nowadays, this would get a 15 rating and be watched by teenagers!! Anyway, I will give this a 5/10.